How many shares should your company have? What types of shares should your company issue? Read on to find out the basic information you will need to know about your company’s shares and shareholders. This is the final article in our “How to Start a Company” series. When you register read more...

Interested in starting a charity or a charitable business? Not sure if a standard limited company is the right structure for you? Read on to find out the alternative legal structures available to your business. This is the third of four articles in our “How to Start a Company” series. read more...

Want to know how to structure your company? Not sure if it should be public or private? Limited or unlimited? Read on to find out which structure is the right choice for you and your business. This is the second of four articles in our "How to Start a Company" read more...

Thinking of starting your own business? Want to know how to set up a company from scratch? Read on to find out. This is the first of four articles in our “How to Start a Company” series. Setting up a new company can be simple. It may even be a read more...

Not only does the Ostrich Position provide an affirmative answer to the question which has troubled philosophers for centuries – “does my bum look big in this?”, it also provides the Courts with a juicy target when looking to apportion blame for company failures. A recent case:  Secretary of State read more...

The advantages of going into business with a partner are obvious – you can achieve much more as a team than as an individual, and complementary skillsets make for more effective performance. But it can sometimes be easier to get divorced than to exit a business relationship without acrimony or read more...

What is a joint venture? A joint venture is generally referred to as a business arrangement between two or more parties that have come together to pursue a common business goal. It can be a great way of combining business strengths, pooling resources and sharing responsibility for the associated profits, read more...

The UK has officially parted ways with the EU after being a member of both it and its predecessor organisations for almost half a century. Following nine tortuous months of negotiations, and in the final hours of the Brexit transition period, a new Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA) was announced read more...

In our blog series we have already looked at “ What to sell – assets or shares ” and “ How to Prepare My Business for Sale ” – which deals with the housekeeping preparations that can increase the value of your business, but a frequent question is “How do read more...

Have you ever considered the commercial value contained within your personal data? Your data is similar to any other product in that it can be bought and sold on for profit. Those who buy your data are called ‘data brokers’ and they repackage it for commercial use. They then sell read more...

Whenever two parties are discussing the sale or purchase of a business, this is usually the first point of contention – so why does it make a difference, and which should you buy? Shares When you purchase the shares of a company, you are buying all of the historical baggage read more...

Business succession is something that is all too easily overlooked when you are engaged in the day-to-day struggle of running a successful business. Very often the owners of an SME will approach retirement age with no clear idea of how to move their business on, which can frequently lead to read more...

Unless you are Amazon, a major supermarket or a supplier of PPE, you would be forgiven for feeling a little punch-drunk at the moment as you attempt to steer your business ship through uncharted and ever-changing waters. The Government has worked hard to provide some relief to the bulk of read more...

Allan Janes Corporate partner Iwan Emanuel will be taking part in a “Town Talk” webinar organised by HW Bidco on Tuesday 5th May at 3pm to discuss Coronavirus business support and advice. Speakers will include Steve Baker MP and advisers from Bucks Business First, Saffery Champness, Optimum Finance and Allan read more...

The Government’s Coronavirus lockdown has placed us in the unusual situation where performing a contract may, through no-one’s fault, prove impossible or even unlawful. Whilst the Coronavirus Regulations have some exemptions for essential work, a lot of important business activity is nonetheless non-essential in this time of crisis. So, if read more...

Shareholders approaching retirement are often concerned that their options to leave their business, and extract some value, may be limited, especially if they are in business with other shareholders who have different exit timetables. For most shareholders, the options are: Sell your shares to the other shareholders; Sell the entire read more...

Entrepreneur’s Relief has been an important tax break for business owners, allowing them to reduce their Capital Gains Tax liability on qualifying assets (which may be their shares in a business, or assets that they have lent to their business) to only 10%. Entrepreneur’s Relief can also apply to Trustees read more...

French employers complain these days that it’s less risky to marry someone than employ them, since the state of French employment law is such that it’s easier to divorce a person than to fire them. And, in many respects, when we enter into business with someone, it is a bit read more...

“Bona Vacantia” might sound like the sort of thing Jacob Rees-Mogg would say when giving his dog a juicy treat, but it is in fact an ancient legal doctrine which has some sharp teeth of its own. When William the Conqueror won the English crown, he claimed all English land read more...

Most people who are offered a directorship are usually so pleased to get a seat “with the grown-ups” that they rarely stop to think about what being a director involves, and what it requires of them. In owner-managed businesses, directors who are also shareholders often assume that they can do read more...

Where Board directors do not see eye-to-eye, there is sometimes a complaint by one or more directors that they are being denied access to key financial information, and are being squeezed out of the decision-making process. So what rights do directors have to access company information? The law on this read more...